Jinnah strikes BJP again

Over a decade back, BJP emerged strongly as an alternative to the 'Grand Old Party'. Though led by 75+ leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the saffron brigade soon convinced the voters, comprising mostly the youth, that it was a 'party with a difference'. But, courtesy the Vajpayee-Advani (on and off) rivalry, infighting among its second rung leaders like Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Yashwant Sinha and the late Pramod Mahajan, the BJP soon turned into 'a party with differences'. Its feel good honeymoon got over when it faced a shocking defeat from its arch-rival Congress in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. This forced the party to hold a 'chintan baithak' to analyse what went wrong. Its 'Ram mandir' agenda had fallen flat. Voters were only interested in concrete economic progress and not tall speeches. The party was caught in a dilemma whether to leave the Ayodhya issue or to stick to it. There was also a need to bring forth the young faces of the party. Unfortunately, the young brigade was busy pulling each other down in full public view. Vajpayee was now too old to be carried along. So, the party decided to focus on the old (but slightly younger than Vajpayee), faithful servant of the party - Advani. However, Advani dug his own grave by praising Jinnah on his tour to Pakistan. He faced the party's ire and was almost on his way out, when the party realised it actually had no other face to project as the prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha polls. As the UPA completed its full term, the BJP projected Advani for PM's post against Manmohan Singh. But, the youth icon Rahul Gandhi emerged as the surprise package of Congress and played a key role in UPA's Lok Sabha win. The fact is that BJP had nothing to offer to the voters barring its Babri rant and UPA bashing. Varun Gandhi's communal venom bit the dust against Rahul Gandhi's pro-poor charm. While Congress has a long list of fresh faces to display, the BJP is still not able to discipline its young brats, who leave no opportunity to wash their dirty linen in public. One thing is sure. 81-year-old Advani's long cherished dream of becoming PM is never going to be fulfilled. Amid the RSS bashing, the BJP held its 'Chintan in Shimla, where on the very first day it expelled its senior leader Jaswant Singh over his controversial book on Jinnah. The party had failed to adopt the same approach towards Advani a few years back. Jinnah has struck the party again. There seems to be no end to its worries. In fact, its biggest chinta is - Who's going to be Advani's successor? Seeing the infighting among the young guns in the party, the selection seems to be a Herculean task. The BJP should better seek advice from Jinnah's jinn, which keep resurfacing from his grave, to haunt the party. Only he has an answer to the saffron dilemma. What say?